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SMALL BUSINESS 101: In-store policies and customer satisfaction
As a small business owner you know that in-store policies are designed to protect your business and reduce risk and liability. Creating policies that put customers first makes it easy to do business with you. Below are some helpful tips to prevent your in-store policies from costing you business: •Offer a refund/exchange policy or give the purchaser a credit slip which may be applied then or at a future time towards purchases of other merchandise in the store. An "all sales are final" or "no cash refunds" policy should not mean that there are no exceptions. •Offer various types of payment options and allow for different terms of payment if possible. •Give your employees some latitude and trust them to make good business decisions on your behalf. •Reduce your customers' concerns by making it easy and risk-free to buy from you. Offer trial periods, if possible, on products from your business. You can also offer a trade-in policy or rebate program on used equipment. •Offer product warranties and clearly state your terms and conditions up front at the time of purchase. Why force customers to review paragraph upon paragraph of fine print included in contracts? •If your policies change, remember not to force existing customers to adhere to the new policy immediately after it has been implemented. Giving customers a grace period to help adjust to the new procedures is beneficial to you as the business owner. Take the time to evaluate the policies you have implemented over the years and look at them from the customer's perspective. Flexible policies can help you increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and it just makes good business sense. -- -- -- -- The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is a non-partisan political action organization representing the interests of small- and medium-sized, Canadian-owned enterprises since 1971. Visit CFIB online (see link). Opinions are those of the author. WEB: CFIB |
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